Manuel Toulon

Manuel Toulon was the French ambassador to China during the 1960s. In 1961, as the Vietnam War escalated, he was asked by the United States to gather information concerning China's prospective response to a US bombing campaign in North Vietnam and Laos. He promoted Rene Gallimard to be his new Vice-Consul, and Gallimard advised him that China disliked Ho Chi Minh and would not care about the US bombing; he also asked for Gallimard's thoughts on the possibility of the US winning the war, and Gallimard said that Asians bowed to Western power. In 1966, he relieved Gallimard and sent him back to France after his predictions about the war turned out to be wrong.